We all know that keeping active is good for us, especially as we get older.
However, a major new study that followed people for 30 years suggests it isn’t only about how much exercise you do. Mixing up the types of activity you enjoy each week could also help you live longer, and the good news is that it doesn’t have to involve a gym membership or anything too strenuous. Here’s what the researchers found and how you can bring a little more variety into your own routine, whatever your age or fitness level.
Three decades of exercise habits were put under the microscope.
The research racked more than 110,000 people over the course of 30 years, around 70,000 of them men and 40,000 women. Every so often, they were asked how much time they spent each week on different kinds of physical activity. Scientists then looked at whether people who did a wider range of things had a lower chance of dying early than those who stuck to one or two.
Following people for so long gives a much clearer picture than a short study ever could. Habits change over the years, health ups and downs come and go, and lots of other things can affect how long someone lives. Having decades of information made it easier to spot whether variety in movement was linked to living longer.
What counted as being active?
Per the study published in BMJ Medicine, the list of activities was pleasingly broad. It included walking, running, cycling, swimming, rowing, lifting weights and playing sport, along with gentler options such as yoga. Jobs around the garden and outdoors, including chopping wood, were counted too, and even taking the stairs made the cut.
There was one catch. An activity only went towards someone’s variety score if they did it regularly. So a single game of badminton at a family barbecue once a year didn’t count. The idea was to see what happened when people built several different activities into their normal week and kept them up over time.
More variety inevitably leads to longer lives.
People who did the widest mix of activities were 19% less likely to die early from any cause than those who did the least variety. That’s a noticeable gap, especially when you consider that it was measured across tens of thousands of people over so many years.
What’s encouraging is that the link held up whatever someone’s overall activity level was. Somebody who regularly did four different things had a lower chance of early death than a person who did three. Each extra type of movement seemed to add a little more benefit, so even adding one new activity to your week could make a difference.
Strength work has a sweet spot.
The study also looked at strength training, which simply means working your muscles against some kind of resistance. That could be lifting weights, using stretchy resistance bands or doing moves such as squats and press-ups with just your own body weight. These exercises help keep muscles and bones strong, which matters more and more as we age.
Interestingly, people who did two hours or more of strength work a week saw the benefits level off, regardless of how varied the rest of their routine was. In other words, piling on extra hours beyond that point didn’t seem to add much more. For most people, a couple of short sessions spread through the week is a sensible goal.
Doing enough still matters most.
Variety helps, but the total amount of movement you do is still the most important thing. For example, five hours of strength training in a week would beat four hours split between swimming, running, and cycling. So adding new activities shouldn’t come at the cost of doing less overall.
UK health guidance suggests adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity each week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity. Moderate means you’re breathing a bit faster and feel warmer but can still hold a conversation. Vigorous means you’d struggle to say more than a few words without stopping for breath. Reaching these targets is linked to a lower chance of heart disease and stroke.
Small steps are a good start.
If you’re not very active at the moment, don’t feel you have to change everything overnight. The researchers stressed that small amounts of movement still count. Building up gradually is likely to be more useful than trying to do loads at once and then giving up because you’re sore, tired or fed up.
A short walk after lunch, a few gentle stretches in the morning or some light gardening at the weekend are all fine places to begin. Once those feel easy, you can add a little more time or try something different. Over a few months, those small changes can turn into a varied routine without it ever feeling too much.
There are options for every age and ability.
Variety doesn’t need to mean expensive classes or new kit. Swimming and water exercise are kind on sore joints, while chair-based workouts let people with limited mobility build strength safely from a seated position. Walking with a friend, dancing around the kitchen or playing in the park with children or grandchildren all get your body moving in different ways.
For strength, you could try standing up from a chair and sitting back down several times, lifting tins of beans as light weights or using a resistance band while watching TV. Gentle yoga or tai chi can help with balance, which lowers the chance of falls later in life. Gardening, hoovering and climbing the stairs all count too, so everyday chores can play their part.
Putting together a week that suits you is simple.
A good approach is to pick two or three activities you enjoy and spread them across the week. Try to include something that gets your heart pumping a bit faster, something that works your muscles and, if you can, something that gets you outdoors. Enjoying what you do makes it far more likely you’ll stick with it for years to come.
If you have a health condition, have been inactive for a long time or aren’t sure what’s safe for you, have a chat with your GP before starting anything new. They can help you find activities that fit your needs. After that, it’s simply a case of starting small, mixing things up and keeping going, one week at a time.
